Body Count '13 - #15

Caught this one out on my way down the farm lane this mornin'. Not the one I was after, but that don't matter. Sorry 'bout his luck.

Seven Days.....

...until my brother and I go see Megadeath and Iron Maiden!!!

We've been talkin' about it for years, and we're finally makin' it happen. I'm flyin' into Myrtle Beach next Tuesday to meet up with Jesse, and then we'll head up to Raleigh for the show.

I gotta say, I'm pretty frikkin' stoked.

Up the irons, motherfuckers!  \m/    \m/

Hoagy's Heroes' Ride, part 4

Monday was the last day of my adventure, and I was back to ridin' solo. I awoke to the sound of rain peltin' Matt's roof, so I threw on the rain gear and off I went. My goal for the day was to stay off the four-lane highways and stick to state and county roads as much as possible. I not only accomplished that, but I found some awesome gravel roads along the way. I took my time, stopped often, snapped lots of pictures, and had a helluva fun trip home.

Mile 1,011... Penn State University's main draw, IMHO.

Mile 1,044... Overlookin' Mifflin County Amish Country.

Within five minutes, the fog had rolled up onto the mountain,
and there was nothin' much to see anymore.

Mile 1,052... found my first ten miles of gravel to play on.

Mile 1,127... took another detour onto
the dirt to check out a landmark from
my teenage years. Might have drank
a beer or two here before...

As per Google Maps, this is considered to be Cedar Street in
Mt. Holly Springs, PA. I wish all streets were this badass.

Found a cool little wooden bridge about 20 minutes from home.

Mile 1,175... back in the shed after an awesome journey.

Hoagy's Heroes' Ride, part 3

Sunday's mission... get the Heroes' Haven cleaned up, then light a shuck for Pittsburgh to visit with some family before escortin' Matthew back to State College. My cousins showed us a good time in Pittsburgh's Strip District after takin' in a delicious lunch. We had to dodge a few rain drops gettin' out of the 'burgh, but aside from that, we hit some fun roads and it was a nice day to ride, yet again.

We grabbed a picture with the ol' man before headin' down the road.

Mile 832... arrived at my cousin's apartment.

We went to the Strip District and
hit up Pamela's Diner, which is
apparently a city staple. I wasn't
disappointed.

We found this gem in our travels... a chopped-up VW Beetle
with a flatbed.

Mile 988... back at Matt's house in central PA.

Hoagy's Heroes' Ride, part 2

My mission for Saturday... knock off 500 miles with some good folks. Most of the folks that ride with Hoagy are accomplished long distance riders, and it's easy to have a lot of trust in good folks like that. We did have a few long distance virgins though, includin' Matthew. We was hopin' to break 'em in gently with a 500-miler. The weather was great and the ride was phenomenal, so everyone had a pretty damn good day.

Thirty minutes to launch!

Mile 373... our second gas stop in western PA.

I took a few minutes durin' light
traffic to snap a few pictures.

Matthew, reekin' of badassery.

Mile 547... gas and lunch stop after a long 174-mile stretch.

Mile 623... last gas stop in Columbus, Ohio. In case you were
wonderin', yes, that town is a complete shithole full of
ignorant Ohio State fans. Steer clear if you can.

Mile 764... Back at Heroes' Haven after a great ride!

Some after-ride shenanigans with Hoagy and his wife.

Hoagy's Heroes' Ride, part 1

My mission for last Friday... leave home, pick up my buddy Matthew, and head out to Wheeling, West Virginia to partake in Hoagy's FBR Dawn-to-Dusk 500. It ain't a long ride, but I consider the 500-miler to be a fun run. It's easy to do, and you still have some piss and vinegar left in the tank to have some fun when you get back. My girl didn't want to tag along this time around, so I opted for the fun bike, figurin' that a solo mission would yield a little more adventure along the way.

Mile 0... leavin' from my house Friday afternoon.

Headin' up a mountain somewhere
in PA.

Mile 86... A fun little store, indeed.
Lots of guns and other guy stuff.

Mile 102... met up with Matthew on the other side of Bedford.

Somewhere in the Laurel Highlands
part of western PA.

Mile 250... arrival at Heroes' Haven, aka Hoagy's garage.

Ready to ride

It's been a few years since I've hit the road with Hoagy, but I'll finally get a chance again this weekend. It's not a long ride, but we'll knock off 500 miles from dawn to dusk.

I talked my first long-distance charity ride with Hoagy back in 2005, and I gotta say, he's about the funnest bastard to ride with ever. They don't call him the Triple Digit Midget for nothin'. Ridin' along side Hoagy, I've had some of my most insane proudest accomplishments, and almost been killed a few times. It pretty much runs the gamut, but one thing's for certain; you're gonna have a damn good time.

Hoagy will prolly have the SPOT tracker runnin' all day Saturday, if you want to follow along with us. And, of course, if you'd like to donate to any of the fantastic charities that we raise money for, just hit up the Paypal link on the website.

A few pics of our cottage

I talk about goin' there a bunch. It is my happy place, after all.

However, I don't really show y'all what it's like up there much. Here's the view from the outside, anyway. Didn't get around to shootin' many pictures on the inside yet.

Down the hill, across the road, down the hill again and
yer in the drink.

From the top of the river bank, up by the road.

Up the river, towards the bridge to town.

The ol' man's bike

I swear, Dad's bike has left me sit almost every time I've touched it in the last five years. It's been at least three years since I've ridden it, since the last time it left me sit.

Reckon I shoulda kept my ass off... it done it again.

Oh well. At least it was just outta gas and didn't cost me a lot of money, like it normally does.

State Days

I just returned from a few days up in State College. Get this... the 4-H program trusts me to chaperone children. I know.... shocks me, too.

But hey, I do my best to try to set a somewhat decent example for the kids, as well as impart some grown-up wisdom along the way.

Pennsylvania State Achievement Days is actually a really fun event for the teenagers in the 4-H program. The primary focus is the competitions, but it also is a nice little preview of college life and a chance to meet some new people and hang out with ol' friends. Some of my strongest friendships today were cemented back in the days of my youth at State Days. There's a little bit of freedom that comes with an event like that, and I personally think it's important that teens get to have some experiences like that from time to time.

Dealin' with teens make my job relatively easy, as the older ones help out with the younger ones, and they're all expected (and for the most part do) act like the young men and women we're groomin' 'em to be. I'm just there as a guide, more or less.

I try to make it up most years to at least assist with the archery competition, regardless whether I'm a chaperone or not. I don't know that I'd want to help out with anythin' other than a shootin' sports competition up there, and thankfully I drew the archery range again.

I got purty lucky again this year... the archers assigned to my target were older teens and were exceptionally skilled for their age. They didn't bitch about how I scored them, and they were overall pleasant to shoot with.

Archers and coaches at the line. As you can see, we had
a nice mix of recurve bows just to keep things interestin'.

Over the shoulder of my lone Adams County representative.

And, of course, after finally gettin' the kids settled in the dorms for a night and a long day on the archery range, an adult nightcap at the end of the day is in order. Just like the old days:)

Cottage Weekend Pictures

We camp on the island most years, weather permittin'. This year, the weather permitted.

Photobomb courtesy of Matthew. Clown.

Tarzan. This was before he got good and ripped.

Settin' up for some more night cattin'.

Big purty sky.

Guess what day it is?!?!?

An overdue plug

I've recently started keepin' an eye on one of the newer pages in the blogopshere. The lovely Miss K was kind enough to plug me, and I'm finally gettin' around to returnin' the favor. If you like a good variety of posts and frequent obungler bashin', this is a page for you. Check it and enjoy!

Cottage Weekend

Cottage Weekend started a number of years ago as a fun weekend for my buddies and I to gather up at the cottage, without havin' to worry about runnin' ourselves into the ground gettin' up early tryin' to slay critters.
Just a nice, relaxin' weekend to eat, drink, sleep and raise a little hell.

I managed to pick up a bug of some sort right before we headed up, so I'm pretty much no fun to be around right now. Hopefully that ain't stoppin' everyone else from havin' a good time though.

Friday night dinner at the Ram Zone.

Tater and Jaclyn managed to get a weekend off new-parent duty, so they're definitely enjoyin' bein' able to take naps and get a full night's sleep without havin' to get up and feed the baby.

Yes, that is yarn and knittin' needles... in a bar...

This afternoon, we'll be havin' a fish fry with some of the fresh striper that Schlongie and I caught a few weeks ago. We'll have some other fixin's to round out what I'm hopin' is a damn good meal.

Prior to gettin' sick, I was plannin' on spendin' the night campin' on the island with everyone else tonight. Given my ccurrent state though, I'll prolly hang out and eat mountain pies, then head back to the cottage to sleep. Not really the way I wanted to spend a fun weekend with my friends, but shit happens.

I did manage to pry myself down to the river for a little night cattin' after we got back from the Ram Zone last night. Schlongie showed us how it was done... The rest of us didn't fare so well.

A day on the bay

I try to make it down to the Chesapeake Bay at least once a year to do some striper fishin' with our buddy Robert and his family. He goes out about four days a week on average, so he always welcomes the company.

Last Sunday afternoon, Schlongie and I made the trek. We arrived in the middle of a monsoon, but as soon as it cleared up enough to head out, away we went. We had some lightnin' a few miles in front of us and passed a lot of boats goin' the other direction, so I reckon we were the only dummies headin' out.

It turned out great though. We got soaked pretty much the whole ride out, but once we were there, the weather cleared up and we fished until dark without another drop. We didn't get slammed by fish like Dad and Jess had done a few days earlier, but we did managed to pick away at a few and wound up with eight or nine of 'em to bring back for supper.

Schlongie is what I consider to be a good ol' boy, who has a fascination for all things antique and old-fashioned. That said, I was pretty damned happy when he reeled in his first ever striper on an old rod and reel that belonged to Robert's grandfather. That ol' fishin' rod has undoubtedly hauled in a helluva lotta fish over the years, and we got in three or four more on it that day alone.

I enjoyed watchin' Schlongie and Robert's nephews land a bunch of fish, but I also managed to haul in the biggest striper I've caught to date, a 30" pig that about yanked the rod outta my hands when he took the bait. One of these days, I'm gonna go down in the winter and early spring and catch one of them true big'uns that Robert keeps talkin' about...

I was worried when we ran headlong into that storm on the way down, but it turned out to be a fantastic evenin' well spent with good friends. Not a shabby way to spend a Sunday at all.